Dancing in the Moonlight
by Bella Lyn
Summary: James Potter has been in love with Lily Evans since he met her, so why can't she see that? When James discovers a secret about Lily, they become closer than James ever dreamed possible. This is the story of James and Lily coming together unconventionally.
1. Chapter 1

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Author's Note:

I have lately been reading a lot of James and Lily stories, and I have found that I am obsessed with that couple...they are so perfect together! I decided to write a story about them myself! 

**Important: **If you have read any of my other stories, than you know that they all focus on ballet. I don't intentionally write all my stories about ballet, but they always come back to it, so I'm sorry in advance if you are sick of hearing it from me. I'm saying this because this story will once again have ballet in it... but not too much, promise!

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James Potter couldn't pinpoint the exact moment that he fell in love with Lily Evans.

He assumed that it was sometime around the first 5 to 10 seconds that he ever saw her on the train ride to the first year of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; but that was just a guess.

There was something about Lily that made James go crazy. Maybe it was her silky wavy red hair, or maybe it was her almond shaped green eyes, or maybe it was the fact that she seemed oblivious to his charm, and much preferred to yell at him. Whatever the reason was that James fell in love though, the point was that he fell... _hard._

It wasn't a secret that James was in love with Lily, in fact the whole bloody school knew. The teachers knew, the students knew, the house elves knew... even the damn portraits knew (although they couldn't have cared less).

Unfortunately for James, there was just one thing stopping him from marrying Lily and living together happily in a yellow house with a porch and flowers and a garden and such. That one little thing was the simple fact that Lily Evans _hated _James Potter. She couldn't stand him, and there wasn't enough galleons in the world to make her go out with him... let alone marry him!

Lily's reasons for hating James were pretty obvious. Once you got past the very good looks James possessed, there was little left in him that Lily saw as attractive. In her opinion, James was a show off, a problem-causer, egotistical, and rude... to name a few.

James and his friends, the Marauders they called themselves, made it their sole responsibility to carry out all pranks in Hogwarts, and they did this as frequently as possible. To many people in school, this was a good thing, providing amusing distractions and stories to tell throughout their long days of classes. Lily however, obeyed the rules more often than not, and so the pranks did not sit well with her.

Another thing about James that bothered Lily was the fact that he liked her. To any other girl in the school, the attention of James Potter was something to die for, but to Lily, it was an annoyance. James would always follow her around, showing off and doing stupid things to impress her, which she was decidedly not. Also, he made it a point to ask her out at least once a day, despite the daily rejections she sent his way.

Currently, in the seventh year of Hogwarts for James and Lily, their relationship was at a standstill. James was working hard to create one, and Lily was denying one existed.

James had long ago given up pulling pranks on Lily to impress her, but that had not made her like him any more. He knew he needed to change something if he wanted to win the love of his life.

...

It was the first Monday in November, and James and his friends Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Petigrew, were sitting at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall eating breakfast. Lily was on the other end of the table sitting next to her best friend Alice Prewitt, and surrounded by various other Gryffindors she was friendly with.

"Prongsie, if you continue to stare at Lily any longer, I will personally gouge your eyes out with this spork," said Sirius, referring to James by his nickname.

"Grouchy today are we Padfoot?" James replied while glaring at his best friend and turning away from Lily.

"I stubbed my bloody foot on the bloody bed this morning," mumbled Sirius almost incoherently.

James rolled his eyes and looked down at his empty plate of food, suddenly feeling a surge of hunger.

"What in Merlins' name is a spork?" asked Remus who had put down his Daily Prophet to look at Sirius with a "is this bloke crazy" kind of look.

"Well Moony m'boy, a spork is a spoon and a fork combined. I was having difficulty eating my fruit cup because I wanted to use a fork for the fruit, and a spoon for the juice at the bottom, so I transfigured my spoon into a spork!" answered Sirius, beaming as though he expected to be praised for his genius.

"Why couldn't you jsut scoop the fruit into the spoon?" asked Remus.

"I a..agree with Remus. It s..seems a l...little silly," stuttered Peter.

"Well..." Sirius began to reply. James tuned them out. If they were just going to argue about something as silly as a "spork" than James was going to resume his watching of Lily.

He was watching the way she tilted her head back slightly when she laughed, and the way she showed her perfect set of teeth when she smiled, and the way her emerald eyes glistened when she got excited by something, when he something sharp poking him on the side of his face.

"What the bloody hell are you doing!?" James exclaimed, as he turned to see Sirius brandishing his "spork" like a weapon aimed at James' face.

"I am proceeding to gouge your eyes out since you won't stop staring at Lily!" Sirius stated as though he were discussing the weather.

After sending a quick binding spell towards his friend to make sure Sirius didn't permanently maim him, James said goodbye to his friends and left the Great Hall glancing once more at Lily.

He headed off towards his room to grab his books for class, hoping that Lily would come to her room as well.

Lily had been made Head Girl, to no ones surprise, but what shocked everyone was that James had been made Head Boy! The general opinion of the school was the Dumbledore had been on some strange medication that made people do crazy things when he had made James Head Boy, after all, there was no way a sane person would make the biggest pranker in the school a figure of authority.

Regardless, James was the Head Boy, and as such, he was given his own room and common room. The brilliant thing about this setup was that Lily was also given her own room, and they shared a common room, just the two of them!

When James had discovered this during the summer, he had practically flown to Hogwarts on his broom, went to the Headmaster's office, and given Dumbledore a kiss! Who cared if he was crazy, Dumbledore had made James Potter the happiest man alive!

So there James was, waiting in the common room before classes, hoping Lily would come up so they could talk. For once, James actually had something he legitimently needed to discuss with her, and what better opportunity than to discuss that topic in the private common room...with the comfy couches, and the romantic fires.

James shook his head to remove that pleasant although inappropriate thought from his head.

He waited until he couldn't wait any longer without missing class, before he headed off.

...

His first class of the day had been Care of Magical Creatures, which he shared with Sirius but which Lily was not in. Second though, he was in Transfiguration, his best topic, and also the class he conveniently shared with Lily.

He entered the classroom on the lookout, trying to spot the bright mass of red that was Lily.

He saw her sitting in the middle of the room, seated next to a friend of hers. James glanced back towards the front of the class to see if McGonagal was in the room yet. He was in luck as she wasn't, and there was no sign of her coming in yet.

James took advantage of the opportunity to go talk to Lily.

"Hey Lily, got a minute?" James asked, pointedly calling her Lily instead of Evans to show he was being serious. It seemed Lily didn't quite catch on.

"For you Potter, no," she said, beginning the statement as though she were going to say yes.

James looked directly into her green eyes, which he really loved to stare into, and pulled a serious face.

"Please Lily, it won't take long, I just wanted to ask you something."

James could see the desire Lily had to make a quick retort, but he also saw her eyes analysing his face. Apparently something in his eyes told her she was serious, because she gave in and stepped aside from her friend so that she and James could talk more privately.

"What's wrong Potter? Does your large head no longer fit through the doorways?" Lily snapped.

James couldn't help but grin a little. He loved her fiery personality.

"Nope, my head is still travel size it seems," James joked. "Actually though, I wanted to ask you about patrol last night."

Every night, Lily and James were required, as Head Boy and Girl, to go around the school and check for any students out of bed or whatnot. Sometimes, James would skip out on those duties and let Lily handle it seeing as she didn't really mind, but last night for the first time ever, Lily had left James to do it alone, something which was very unLily-like.

James saw something flash through Lily's eyes, almost as if she were hiding a secret, but it passed before he could make anything of it.

"Oh, yeah, sorry I left you hanging there. I had some work to finish and then I... fell asleep halfway through I guess." Lily said cautiously.

James picked up on the slight hint of fakeness in her voice, and he knew that something wasn't right, but it didn't seem urgent, and as long as she wasn't sick or hurt, James wasn't going to push it, especially after she actually apologized to him! She never said nice things to him, although in retrospect he deserved it after everything he had done to her over the years.

"Well alright then, if your sure your okay," James started.

"Yeah, I was fine, not like you really cared. I'm sure you were just nervous I'd make you do rounds by yourself every night." Lily said exasperated.

Truth was, the thought had crossed James mind the night before, that is until he got worried about Lily's safety. It was funny how well she could read him sometimes.

"Of course I wasn't!" James replied pretending he was outraged. "I was merely concerned over the well being of you dearest."

Lily rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to say something James was sure would be quite nasty, but luckily McGonagal walked into the class at that moment and called the class to order.

James took an empty seat towards the front of the room, his normal seat taken for some reason. He glanced over at Lily and noticed that she was quite red in the face, possible through anger in James, although he dearly hoped that wasn't the case.

The class began, and James found himself drifting off into thoughts off Lily... just like always.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **Thanks for all of the great reviews and the attention this fanfic has received so far!

Keep Reading

Bella

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_I need a place to hide. I need a place to hide. I need a place to hide._

James whispered this phrase to himself three times as he walked in front of what looked like an empty space of wall.

The space of wall was not in fact a wall, but actually concealed a secret room that James had discovered in his fourth year. The room was called, The Room of Requirement. As one would guess, the room's purpose was to magically turn itself into whatever type of room the user needed...that is if they knew how to work it.

Normally, a room like this would have been a great discovery for the Marauders. It would be a place to plan pranks, hide items not allowed in school, and use to their advantage. However, when James had discovered the room, he decided that although it was selfish, he was going to keep it to himself.

There were several reasons for this. The first being that at the time, James really wanted a place where he could escape from the difficulties of school and his friends, and this room was perfect. The second reason was that James had been trying to prove to Lily for a while that he wasn't just a pranker, and he felt that if he showed his friends a room where they could essentially prank people all the time, than Lily would probably never speak to him again if she found out.

This particular night, James needed the room for a less than noble reason.

James and Lily had finished with their hallway patrol around 11, and Lily had rushed off Merlin knows where. James had decided that it would be a good opportunity to carry out a prank on Filch that he and Sirius had planned earlier that day.

Unfortunately for James, Mrs. Norris had caught him as he was magically suspending a bucket of sludge-balls over Filch's office door. James had taken off when he heard Filch's voice calling out to his cat, whom he was oddly obsessed with.

James had originally started to head for his room, but as he neared the portrait, he heard a _meow _he assumed came from Mrs. Norris around the corner. Instead he took off in the opposite direction and ran to the Room of Requirement where he now stood trying to gain access.

For some reason, the door took a while to show itself, almost as though it were preoccupied, or it just was hesitant about letting James in. James suspected it didn't approve of his reason for needing the room. Soon enough though, the door appeared, and James slipped in as quietly as he could, so as to not alert anyone he was there.

It took a while for James' eyes to adjust to the light in the room. He was expecting to see a layout similar to the common room, a place with couches and a fireplace. He had asked for a place to hide after all, so why shouldn't the room be comfortable?

Instead, James saw something very different.

He looked around him and noticed that two of the walls were mirrored. Those walls were on his sides, meaning that the wall behind and in front of him were plain. The room was very dark, with the corners heavily shadowed, but bright lights shone down the center of the room, highlighting something in the middle. The floor was hard, but not wood. It seemed to be made of a linoleum material, although James had no idea why. James looked across the room and noticed that the wall across from him had a bar running down the length of it, for what purpose James couldn't even begin to guess.

As James took in his surroundings, he realized why the door was hesitant to show itself to him. There was already someone in here! His request of the room could not be made because there was already someone requesting something... so then how had he gotten in?

James guessed that whatever this room was being used for, the user requested for something similar as he did, maybe a place to do something secretly, which was essentially what hiding was.

A noise from the opposite side of the room made James jump a foot in the air, although he had already figured out someone else was in the room... he just didn't see them yet.

He slid back into deeper shadows than he was in now. He didn't want to be seen yet in case the person in the room was not someone he wanted to get in the way of. After all, he was intruding on whatever they wanted to keep a secret.

He was considering slipping out of the room before he got caught, but his pride and his curiosity got the best of him. He had to at least figure out who was in the room with him.

Across the room, James heard a person mumble something he assumed was a spell, and within seconds music had started playing. Oddly enough, the music was classical music, a genre that James was pretty sure not many people listened to when they were undergoing top secret missions or whatnot.

James thought he recognized the music, although he couldn't be sure. It sounded like something from a muggle ballet called the Nut Jammer, or Nut Crusher or some nonsense like that. James' mum had taken him to see it once with his aunt and cousin who were muggles.

James looked back to the center of the room as he saw someone walk out of the shadows.

He had too bite back a gasp as he realized with a start that it was Lily! She was in the Room of Requirement!

Suddenly the past two nights made more sense. Lily had not had homework, she had been doing stuff in this room, and that's where she ran off to tonight!

Noticing Lily's outfit of a black leotard and pink tights, James knew for sure what Lily was doing. She was dancing! But why in Merlin's name was she dancing ballet in the middle of the night, in the room of requirement, in Hogwarts?

Well, actually, the first two questions were easily answered. She was dancing in the middle of the night because that was the only time she would have to dance, and she was in the Room of Requirement because, obviously, it would become whatever room she wanted, and what she wanted was a dance studio.

But why the hell was she dancing?

James watched her as she put on ballet slippers and began to stretch in time with the music. He eyed her legs and arms as she kicked her leg high with ease. Merlin she was gorgeous!

After several minutes of stretching out her limbs, James watched from his hiding spot as Lily waved her wand, starting the song over from the beginning. She then proceeded to fly around the room, on her toes, on one foot, one leg in the air, both legs flying through the air in a graceful jump...she was everywhere. More importantly though, she was amazing!

James had never seen someone move so gracefully before. All of her movements were like liquid, flowing from one motion to the next with ease. It was probably the most enlightening experience in James' life. He never knew Lily could do this before!

The whole thing made James love her even more. It added a whole new level to her personality, and James couldn't get enough of it.

Still, he wondered why she was doing it. Maybe she just wanted to practice... it was obvious that she had been dancing for years, and there weren't dance classes in Hogwarts. Yet, she had never practiced much before, or at least, James didn't notice her running off before. Why was she suddenly so dedicated to it?

James could tell the song was winding down, and Lily seemed to be finishing off her complex dance. She ended the dance on the tips of her toes (which looked quite painful to James) with one leg high in the air and her arms high above her head.

_How in the bloody world can she do that? _James thought to himself for probably the millionth time that night.

Suddenly he panicked. If she was finishing up, than she was going to want to leave soon! James couldn't leave before her, she would see him, but he didn't want to stay here all night. Besides what would happen when she left? The room couldn't change with someone in it, and he certainly wasn't going to leave and come back risking the chance that Filch would catch him.

He watched as Lily pulled her robes over her leotard, and exited the room after she waved her wand to turn the music off.

James held his breath as Lily passed near him, hoping that she wouldn't suddenly hear a hitch in his breath or something and turn to look.

She left without incident, and James felt himself breath again a minute after she was gone, not realizing that he had still held his breath after she left. He looked around the room again and wished that he were in his own room.

Instead, he went to a corner, transfigured a chair into a bed with extra blankets to ward off the chill of the room, and attempted to go to sleep in these weird surrondings.

His dreams that night were filled with red headed, green-eyed dancers.


	3. Chapter 3

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Author's Note:

Thanks for the responses so far. I hope you like this next chapter.

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James woke up the next morning, groggy and confused.

_Where the bloody hell am I? _He wondered to himself. He took in his surroundings and realized he was in the room of requirement from last night when he saw the linoleum floor and the mirrored walls.

Suddenly, the memories from last night hit him like a Knight's bus. He recalled watching Lily dance with grace and beauty, and at the mere thought of her he felt a warmth rush from the top of his unruly hair to the bottom of his feet. Merlin, he loved Lily.

He stood up quickly, eager to go to breakfast just to see Lily again. Unfortunately, he stood too quickly, and he felt the blood rush to his head, and pound in his ears like a marching band. His vision was a little foggy for a second, and he had to grip onto the side of the bed before he fell.

The sensation passed in seconds though, and he sprinted up and out the door.

...

"Prongs mate, where were you last night? We tried to meet you outside your portrait for our late night snack but you didn't show." Sirius asked James as he saw his best friend sit down to breakfast.

James thought about his answer carefully. He and his friends went down to the kitchen almost every night for food. They were probably very confused when he didn't show up outside the Head's portrait like always. They probably realized that he wasn't in his room then. He couldn't tell them he slept in the room of requirement though because they didn't know about it.

"Well you see Padfoot," James began with a serious look on his face. "I was executing that prank of ours on Filch, but Mrs. Norris caught me and ran off to find Filchy. I took off and spent the night in an old classroom to avoid being caught."

James could see his friends still had questions from the look on their faces.

"I had the invisibility cloak," he lied, "so I conjured a bed, locked the door, and slept under the cloak."

He was relieved to see that his friends seemed to buy the story, so he quickly swallowed any guilt he felt over lying to them.

He didn't have time to feel guilty anyway, for at that moment, Lily walked into the Great Hall, surrounded by her friends. In James' opinion, she floated into the room.

He wondered how he could have missed her grace before. Granted he loved many qualities about her, but grace had never been at the top of his list. Now though, all he could think about was the way she had danced last night.

Just like always, James stared at Lily throughout the rest of breakfast, with Lily pointedly ignoring him. He didn't care though, and he even ignored his friends attempts to drag him into conversation. Lily Evans was the only thing he saw all morning.

When it was time for class, James sighed and headed off, losing Lily somewhere in the crowds as they separated for the first class of the day.

...

In the middle of potions class, James received a very hard kick in the shin.

"Argh! What the bloody hell was that for Padfoot?!" James whispered harshly.

"What do you mean "what was that for"? You have been humming all morning, Shut Up!" Sirius whispered back fiercely.

James was confused. He had been humming? He shrugged his shoulders and got back to work, trying hard not to look at Lily. Before he knew it, he was humming again, only this time he was aware of it.

_What is this song stuck in my head?_ He wondered. He recognized it, but couldn't place it, and he could only hum half of it before he started over.

_Oh! It's the song Lily danced to last night! _James realized triumphantly. _Shoot, don't let her hear you, she'll know you were there!_

For the rest of class, James bit the inside of his mouth to avoid humming again, especially whenever Lily got near.

...

That night, Lily and James did not have to patrol, it was one of the prefects turn.

James sat around in the common room doing homework with Lily on the other side of the room turned away from him. They sat like this most nights, James facing Lily and Lily turned in the opposite direction.

James had a view of the side of Lily's head, and he watched in fascination as she bit her lip every time she read a problem on her homework, or when she was thinking of what to write on her Charms essay.

James loved it when Lily bit her lip. It made him want to reach out and touch her lips, just to see if they were as soft as they really looked.

At around ten o'clock though, Lily stood up from her chair, and cleared her homework. She said goodnight to James, and told him she was tired when he asked why she was going to bed so early. She also told him to mind his own damn business, to which James pleasantly replied that she was his business. Lily huffed out of the room and headed up her stairs.

James had an idea what she was up to though, and so he ran up to his room to fetch his invisibility cloak, and rushed back down the stairs after making sure it hid him well.

He sat down on one of the couches in the shadows and waited for Lily.

Around 11 o'clock, James was still sitting in the common room which he never did. This was the time he and his friends usually went down for a snack, and he figured lily would know he "wouldn't be in here".

Right on cue, James saw Lily open her door a crack and peek down into the common room. James almost sighed with relief when she seemingly saw nothing and walked down her stairs, but he stopped himself.

Lily headed towards the portrait hole, and James silently followed.

The two walked down to the Room of Requirement, Lily sticking to the shadows despite having the Head Girl's privilege to be out, and James walking ten feet behind her in his socks to avoid making noise.

The pair reached the stetch of hallway that concealed the entrance to the room. James watched as Lily started to walk in front of the wall three times, wishing for her dance studio again, although James wasn't positive of this since she didn't say anything out loud.

He vaguely wondered where she had learnt about this room, but figured that she must have discovered it in a similar way he did; by accident.

After Lily had finished her request, James watched as the door to the chamber started to reveal itself. Lily darted in quickly after glancing around, and James did the same behind her, trying to avoid walking too close to her so that she wouldn't feel a breeze.

James tip toed into the corner nearest the doorway, and sat on the ground, squirming to make himself comfortable.

There were fewer shadows in the room tonight, which worried James at first. Luckily, the corner he was in was completely submersed in shadows, it was the rest of the room that was brighter.

The room seemed more comfortable tonight as well. The walls were a cheerful yellow color, and there were pictures of ballerinas all over. There were more lights on the ceiling, which was the reason for less shadows, and there was a very small fireplace on the opposite wall of James.

James figured that Lily was dissatisfied with the room last night, and decided to become more specific tonight.

_Thank Merlin I slipped in with her tonight, otherwise I probably wouldn't have been able to get in. _James thought to himself, realizing that her specific suggestions tonight would have not allowed him to come in were he to ask for a general room like he did the night before.

James watched from his hiding spot as Lily removed her robes to reveal a dancer's outfit beneath. She was once again donned in the black leotard and pink tights, although tonight, her long wavy red hair was tied up in a bun with black ribbon.

Lily waved her wand, and James was once again caught up in her movements as she began her dance. He only slightly noticed that she was once again dancing to the Muggle ballet songs; the NutCracker, James remembered.

For two hours James saw nothing but Lily. He could never guess what dance move she was going to do next, not that he knew many dance moves... the point was though that she constantly surprised him.

Every time that James saw a move he thought could not be topped, she went a performed an even harder move that shocked him.

He was surprised and disappointed when she stopped, waved her wand to end the music, and put her robes back on over her dance clothes.

James stood quickly but silently and followed her as she left the room. Instead of following her to the Head's rooms though, he took a different route. He knew many secret passages in the school, and he took one that brought him to the portrait hole 5 minutes before Lily would arrive.

Thus, he entered the common room, and swiftly ran up his stairs to his own room. Within minutes he had changed, brushed his teeth, and hopped into bed, dreaming of Lily.

...

A week had passed since James first discovered Lily's secret late night wanderings.

He had followed her every night to the Room of Requirement to watch her. Some nights, he tried to resist going, telling himself that he had too much homework to watch her rehearse a dance he had seen every night. Yet, every night, at 11 o'clock, he would follow her beneath his invisibility cloak, and watch her dance.

He felt sometimes when he watched her, that she was dancing just for him. At least, he pretended that she was dancing for him.

He could not get over how beautiful she was, no matter how many times he watched her, and every time he saw her, he could only think of how perfect she was.

It was a Wednesday night again when James followed Lily like always to the room of requirement.

He walked into the room behind Lily, never making a sound, and crept into his corner which was always covered by shadows.

He sat and watched Lily for about half an hour, his attention never wavering when he felt it all of a sudden. His nose started to itch, and his throat started to tickle.

James knew what this meant after 17 years of experience; he was about to sneeze!

He looked upward and tried every trick he could think of to prevent himself for sneezing. He held his nose, tried to block his throat, closed his eyes tightly, everything he could.

Nothing seemed to be working! The sneeze was still coming as strong as ever.

_Oh Merlin, please don't let me sneeze! Lily will kill me if she finds out I have been in here! Please oh please oh please...don't let me sneeze! _he thought frantically to himself.

After a minute of silent praying to any higher power, James relaxed. The sensation was gone, and he was pretty sure he was safe.

He looked back at Lily and smiled. He always felt better when he looked at her, as creepy as that sounded. In his moment of relaxation, he took a deep calming breath.

That unfortunately was a mistake, because whatever was in the air that had made him need to sneeze seconds earlier, had just been deeply inhaled by James.

Without any warning, James felt his throat close, his nose hurt, and his eyes shut as he lurched forward and issued a great _ACHOO!_

_Oh bloody hell! Oh sweet Merlin!_

He opened his eyes hesitantly, hoping against all hope that maybe Lily hadn't heard him.

_Yeah, fat chance._

Lily looked frantic. Her graceful motions had been cut off completely, and she was staring into the corner as though she had seen a ghost.

_Well, that's not too uncommon considering there are about 10 ghosts in the school. If she saw a ghost I doubt she would be looking as shocked as she is now!_

James tried to block out his thoughts and think of an escape plan, yet at the same time, he wanted to comfort Lily. She looked so scared and paralysed. She still hadn't moved an inch since she had heard the sound. Then again, neither had James.

Lily walked over slowly, one foot timidly put in front of the other, until she was standing less than six inches in front of James.

Normally he would have been happy about the situation. Lily was in front of him, so close that James could make out each individual freckle sprinkled on her nose and cheeks. Right now though, he knew he was busted. He had resigned himself to this and hardly blinked as he saw her hand dart out to him.

Lily felt the cloak in her hand, grabbed it, and removed it from James in one swift motion.

"James?! What the bloody hell are you doing in here?!"

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**Author's Note: **Just so you know, I cut it off like that on purpose. I already have most of the next chapter written, but if you want me to post it, then I need to receive some more reviews otherwise I might end this story. If you don't want me to end it, or if you have a comment, please review!


	4. Chapter 4

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Author's Note:

I'm so sorry this chapter has been a while in coming. If you are a fan of Harry and Ginny I suggest you read my story Anything but Ordinary! If you aren't a fan of those two, and prefer James and Lily, then now you know why I haven't been updating as often, that story takes up a lot of my writing time. Either way, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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James looked around with his eyes wide, trying to pretend he was innocent. Was it just him, or did Lily seem to be growing in height? Maybe that was just the impression she gave when she was very angry.

"This isn't the boys bathroom!" James said in mock outrage, as he made an attempt to run for it.

_You can make it, you can make it!_

In his haste, he forgot that he really shouldn't turn his back on an armed, angry witch. Seconds after he took off, he heard Lily shout a full body bind spell, and felt himself fall to the ground.

_Probably should have expected that..._

Although he couldn't move his body, James' eyes frantically looked back towards Lily. He knew he was in for it, there was no escaping.

Lily walked two steps closer to him, her wand raised high in the air. She muttered something quietly and waved her wand, and suddenly James was able to move his mouth muscles.

"How did you do that? I've never heard of someone being able to move their mouth under the full body bind!" James exclaimed immediately, trying to distract Lily from the reason she had placed the body bind on him. Besides, he was curious.

"I'm good at charms." Lily said through clenched teeth. "Now, I'll ask again. Why the bloody hell are you in here, and why were you hiding under a...is that an invisibility cloak?"

"Um, yes." James said. There was no way to hide it.

"So that's how you always get away with those pranks." Lily said, more angry than interested.

"As a matter of fact, it is." James said, once again trying to distract Lily. "Would you like to have a look under it?" If James weren't immobile at the moment, he would have been wiggling his eyebrows. As it was, he had been binded with a very nervous look on his face, which made the question seem rather ridiculous.

"In your dreams," Lily muttered.

"Actually, I frequently dream of scenarios like that." James said, completely serious.

Lily suddenly got an angry look on her face and shook her head. "Stop distracting me! Why are you in here, and why were you hiding?!" she asked loudly.

"Um, well, I...got lost?" James said, wishing he could melt into the ground.

"I don't think so," Lily said, just as she placed a tickling charm on James.

She hadn't been kidding, she was good at charms, James realised. Tickling charms were bad enough, but a tickling charm when someone was in the full body bind was torture. _Well duh, she's trying to torture the answer out of you...quite ingenious really, although a bit scary, _James thought with a mix of admiration and despair.

He tried to hold off as long as he could, but it was a lost cause.

"Alright, alright, I'll tell you everything! Just take this bloody curse off!" James shouted desperately.

"It's not a curse, it's a charm," Lily said happily as she lifted the tickling charm. She kept James body binded however.

"Sure, tell that to the victim." James said dramatically.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Would you get on with it please?"

James took a deep breath. "Well you see, I've known about this room since my third year, and about a week ago, I was trying to escape Filch so I ran in here. I was under my cloak because I had been...well never mind. I was under my cloak, so you didn't see me when I came in. I saw you though..."

James' mind drifted off to how beautiful Lily had looked the first night he saw her dance. Her hair was shining in the moonlight, and she had floated across the..._ARG!_

Lily had placed the tickling charm on him again.

"Take it off, take it off! I'll tell the rest, I'm sorry!" James shouted.

Lily removed the charm and looked at James innocently. "You were taking too long," she said with a mischievous smile.

Normally James loved that smile, but not after what she had just done to him.

"Anyway, I saw you dancing, and I would have left had it been anyone else, but you were just so beautiful." James said sincerely.

Lily blushed a little, but her eyes looked suspicious. For some reason that was completely beyond James, she never believed him when he complimented her. He suspected it had something to do with the fact that he was never really serious, a fact that he was trying desperately to change for her.

"When you had finished, I wanted to see more, so the next night, I decided to follow you. You have to believe me, I never meant to stay the whole time or anything, I just wanted to see you dance again. It didn't really work though, I mean, once I came I couldn't leave. Then I started coming every night. I tried to not come once or twice, but the only thing I could think about was you dancing." James said quickly in case Lily decided to "_charm" _him again.

Lily waved her wand again, and within seconds James could feel his body unbind. Unfortunately, he fell flat on the floor before he realised he could move.

He looked up into Lily's eyes, and saw that she didn't trust what he had said.

"Don't you believe me Lils?" he asked.

"No, as a matter of fact I don't, and don't call me Lils" Lily snapped. "How do I know your not making fun of me behind my back with your stupid friends?"

"Lily, I would never make fun of you. You've got to know by now that I love you," James said with a smile.

Lily rolled her eyes. She stomped past James and into the hall.

James followed, but Lily had already rounded the corner. He assumed since it was so late that she had gone back to the common room. Hoping to talk to her before she went to bed, he sprinted the rest of the way back.

When he walked in through the portrait, James saw Lily sitting in front of the fire. Breathing with relief, he went and sat down on a couch near her.

After a few moments of silence, Lily started, "I'm...I'm sorry I put the tickling charm on you, that was probably awful."

James grinned. "Ironic really that its called the tickling charm when it hurts so much,"

Lily's lips twitched, and she smiled slightly.

Taking this as a sign that he was mostly forgiven, even if Lily thought he was mocking her when he said he loved her, James decided to ask her something that had been bothering him.

"Hey uh, Lils?" James started, using the nickname she hated out of habit. "Can I just ask you something?"

Lily had rolled her eyes at the use of the name, but when she saw how serious James was, she softened. "I guess..." she said noncommittally.

James continued. "I can understand that you would want to practice dancing once in a while, especially since your so good, but why are you dancing every night? It seems like a lot of effort for a hobby."

Lily bit her lip. She really hadn't planned on telling people this because it wasn't there business, especially James, but he was being so nice about the whole thing. He hadn't made fun of her yet...at least she didn't think he had. She decided there was no harm in telling him.

"There is a reason why I'm dancing so much, but if I tell you, you have to promise that you won't go blabbing to the whole school." Lily said, glaring into James' eyes.

James was thrilled. She was going to tell him her secret, and she was trusting him not to tell anyone else. This was a good sign right?

He nodded his head eagerly, and Lily was reminded of a puppy. She held back her laugh and made herself more comfortable on the couch.

"Before I found out I was a witch, I was really serious about ballet. I was positive I was going to be a famous ballerina, so I took a lot of classes and practiced all the time. When I did find out about this world though, I didn't really care anymore about ballet. I quit about the same time I started Hogwarts." Lily began.

James knew that Lily was from a Muggle family, but he seemed to have a better idea about her childhood from this new information. He loved it.

"Before I quit, I had been a part of this intense summer program for teenage dancers. Once your a member, you can't really get out unless you leave the group, and my parents made me stay in the group." Lily paused to breath.

"Why did they make you stay if you don't want to be a dancer anymore?" James asked confused.

Lily sighed. "They seem to think that this magic thing isn't going to work out. The group is really hard to get into, so they have it in their heads that if I decided to come back to the Muggle world after all of this, I could still have a career as a dancer. I would have refused a long time ago, but I don't want to upset my parents. They are pretty clueless when it comes to this world, and besides, I love to dance, so it wasn't a big deal...up until now."

"So what happened?" James asked curiously.

"The stupid group decided that they were going to gather all of the ballerinas in the group together and put on a performance this winter of the Nutcracker...it's this really famous Muggle ballet," Lily said for James' benefit.

"Yeah, I've seen it once actually." James said cockily.

"Oh," Lily was very surprised by this. "Anyway, the instructor of the group asked my parents if I was going to be available to perform, and my parents said yes, thinking that it wouldn't be a big deal for me to leave school and be in the show for a week," Lily said with a grimace.

James understood. Lily couldn't refuse her parents, but they had no idea what Hogwarts was like. She couldn't just leave for a week, she would be swamped with make-up work!

"Is it even worth it, I mean, do you have big part?" James asked.

"They're making me the lead," Lily said with a sad smile.

For some strange reason, James suddenly felt proud of Lily. From what he saw, she deserved to have the lead role.

"So that makes you the little girl, doesn't it?" James asked trying to remember the plot of the ballet.

Lily once again looked surprised. She smiled and said, "Yes, I'm Clara."

James smiled back for a moment before his face fell. "How are you going to do this though? You can't miss school."

"Luckily it worked out that the ballet performances will be during our winter break." Lily answered.

"That's good," James agreed. "One more question," he said, "how did you find the room of requirement?"

"My parents contacted Dumbledore in October because they knew I needed to practice. Dumbledore knows about the room, and he taught me how to use it." Lily said with a smile. "How did you find it though?" she asked slyly.

"Well um, that's not really important." James replied nervously.

Normally Lily would have pushed the matter, but she knew better with James. She would never get a straight answer from him when it came to his pranks, which she was sure were a part of his story.

Feeling suddenly tired, Lily stood up from the couch and stretched her arms up in a yawn.

James watched coyly from his seat. When Lily opened her eyes again and caught James looking at her, she scowled.

"You just remember, this gets out to no one." she said threateningly.

James knew he wasn't going to betray her trust. "Lily I promise, this will just be between you and me," he said.

Lily gave a curt nod, and headed off gracefully to the stairs that led to her room. When she was halfway up, she heard James call out a "goodnight".

"You know this doesn't mean we're friends now, right Potter?" Lily said from across the room.

"Give it time Evans, you can't resist me much longer!" James said back with a large cocky grin.

"You wish," Lily muttered.

"True," James said back. Apparently he had heard her.

Lily rolled her eyes and walked into her room, closing the door tightly behind her.

James watched her empty doorway for several minutes before he shook himself and headed off to bed as well.


End file.
